Intel's most affordable processor in the LGA2011 package, the Core i7-3820, surfaced on Japanese stores in the Akihabara electronics shopping district of Tokyo. It is priced around 25,000 JPY (US $322). The retail box of this chip, carrying the S-Spec code "SR0LD", appears to be as big as those of the Core i7-3930K and Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition, its shape indicates that it lacks a bundled cooling solution, and so users should still rely on compatible third-party coolers, or use Intel's RTS2011LC, purchased separately.

The Core i7-3820 is a quad-core part carved out of the Sandy Bridge-E silicon. It has four cores, and eight logical CPUs enabled with HyperThreading Technology. The chip is clocked at 3.60 GHz. Caches include 256 KB L2 per core, and 10 MB shared L3. The chip retains the quad-channel DDR3 IMC present on the more expensive six-core parts. It is also said to be "limited unlocked", meaning it allows multiplier-assisted overclocking to a certain limit. The Core i7-3820 is not officially launched, though it should be unofficially supported by most socket LGA2011 motherboards based on the X79 chipset.

Either way, this is nice to see. Unfortunately, given the poor availability of the previously released Sandy Bridge-E Core i7 3930K now (and for quite some time) I have little confidence that Intel will provide sufficient quantities of the Core i7 3820 to meet demand,…..

Maybe availability of the Core i7 3820 will alleviate some of the demand for the Core i7 3930K and we would then start to see both come into stock,...

OEM CPUs have a different warranty policy, which isn't as user-friendly as the retail box. Other than that, they're the same, except some items that are part of the packaging. Sometimes case-badge (maximus e-peen enlargement) isn't part of the package, etc.

Well in that case its difficult to say what the better option is. It should be pointed out though that the Ivy Bridge Core i7 3770(k) will presumably be in the same price range as the Sandy Bridge Core i7 2600(k) and Core i7 2700(k) within an April timeframe.

Its prudent to take into account the known upgradeable nature of the LGA1155 platform from Sandy Bridge to Ivy bride with respect to the uncertain upgradeable status of the Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 platform.

Also note that with the Advent of the new Z77 express chipset and new features such as Intel Thunderbolt (on some new Z77 motherboards) in an April timeframe, the older X79 chipsets (motherboards) could start to look a little stale. It makes sense for Intel to refresh the X79 chipset (with expected features not released initially) and or for motherboard manufactures to update their board designs to keep pace with high-end Z77 boards.

All I am saying is that the more expensive / higher-end LGA2011 platform shouldn’t be wanting for features inherent on the lower-end LGA1155 platform (aside from Quick-sync) and that is probably what will happen without an update.

I agree with you there. When Bloomfield launched in circa 2008 it was a trifecta with roughly the same price range as Sandy Bridge-E today. The Core i7 3820 is roughly equivalent to the very successful Core i7 920. No one would have liked to have seen the 920 delayed like this from the initial launch.

Still having said that, nothing could really touch the Bloomfield line for the same price back then, whereas, now the Sandy Bridge line is breathing down the neck of Sandy Bridge-E.

I'm a bit confused whats supposed to be the new top dog platform from 1366? Ivy Bridge, Ivy Bridge-E or Sandy Bridge-E?

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Top dog Intel platform is s2011. Sandy Bridge-E is the processor there now, but Intel will shrink the die from 32nm to 22nm with Ivy Bridge-E, just like they shrunk the Nehalem die from 45nm to 32nm on s1366 with Gulftown.